From Another World
by Unhobbity Hobbit
Summary: Dean meets himself as he could have been. Some strong language.


A/N: No, it's not about aliens.  


From Another World

Right, so, where was this meant to be? It was pretty bare in here. Blank was perhaps a better word for it. There wasn't much in the way of comfort in here. Having said that, there wasn't much in the way of discomfort either, so that was an improvement on what Dean's subconscious usually inflicted on him. Yes, Dean was dreaming, even he knew it, and if he wasn't, he was going to pretend he was because it was just easier that way.

Dean turned to check there wasn't anything in the room that he'd missed. Nope, four walls and a bench in the middle. That was it. Wait, no, there was a person on the bench in the middle. Must have just appeared there, no way had Dean missed a detail that big. Dean approached the person and what he saw convinced him once and for all that he was dreaming. It was himself lying there asleep. It was himself wearing a shirt and tie, looking incredibly neat, nicely cut hair, no stains on his clothes to speak of, perhaps he'd somehow stumbled into one of Sam's dreams.

Then his eyes, the other him, his eyes snapped open and he sat up. He swung his legs over the edge of the bench and looked at Dean.

"Wow," he said and did Dean really sound like that out loud? He totally didn't, "This has got to be one of the weirdest stress-induced dreams I've ever had," wait a minute. What?

"Hang on," said Dean, the real Dean, "You think _you're_ the one dreaming?"

"Are you saying that_ you_ are?"

"Yeah,"

"Well, you're wrong, 'cause I am,"

"Ok, so we could go on like this for a while. Let's just say that my brain is out to screw with me,"

"Unless it's my brain," the other Dean was grinning,

"Our brain, then," He looked at the other Dean, who was still grinning. He looked well-rested, well fed, a picture of good health, the complete opposite to how Dean felt.

"You look awful," said the other Dean, dropping the grin and frowning in slight concern.

"Thanks,"

"What are you? Like, my stress personified or something?"

"I don't know, what are you stressed about?"

"Oh, you know, with a baby on the way and Mom's operation, there's a lot to be worried about," had Dean been drinking anything he would have choked on it upon hearing those words. Instead he stared at the other Dean and then said, a little hoarsely,

"What did you just say?"

"That I'm worried about the baby, you know, pregnant wife, first child, that whole thing?" Dean sat down on the bench, leaving a gap between himself and the other him. "And then there Mom's hip operation, they say it's routine but it can still go wrong, can't it? Isn't that what you're worried about? Or has my brain come up with something completely out there?" Dean just stared at the other one. He thought this dream was going to be an ok one, but no, his brain was taunting him with a vision of himself with a perfect, normal life.

"You have a mom?" he managed to choke out.

"You mean, you don't?" Dean shook his head,

"Not since I was four,"

"Four? Jesus! Sorry, man, that's harsh,"

"And you got a wife? Pregnant?"

"Yeah, her name's Rachel," the other Dean's eyes lit up at the thought of her, "You know her?" Dean grinned and scratched the back of his neck a little sheepishly.

"Well, I've uh... _known_ a few girls called Rachel,"

"Oh God, am I... are you a complete man-whore?"

"Watch it, you're starting to sound like Sammy there,"

"I am? Not like any Sammy I've ever known. I bet he'd love to have you as his brother,"

"You mean your Sammy's not a complete nerd?"

"God no! He spent so much time partying at college, I have no idea how he managed to graduate," Dean laughed.

"Maybe we could introduce our Sammies some time. I'm sure they could learn from each other," Dean then realised what it was he'd said, "You know, if this wasn't a dream and we weren't figments of each other's imagination and everything," the other Dean laughed. They soon settled into silence, though, each wondering what to say to the other him, seeing as their lives were so different.

"What's worrying you, then?" said the other Dean, Dean looked up at him, vaguely surprised. It wasn't like him to want to start a heart-to-heart. Or maybe it was. Who knew what his twisted mind had managed to come up with.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, you look like shit, there must be something wrong,"

"You really need to work on those social skills, you know that?"

"It's a dream, what are you going to do? So what's wrong?" Dean thought for a moment, looking at his other self, eying him. Heck, it was a dream, what was there to lose?

"Well, you know, Mom died in a fire when I was four, that's never been a good thing. Then dad went after the Demon that did it-"

"Demon?"

"This is a dream, just go with the flow. So my childhood wasn't exactly the best ever. And then one day Sammy stormed out to go to his stupid college and take a shot at his normal life, which is when it really all went to hell 'cause Dad said he couldn't come back," were those tears in his eyes? Hell no, they were not tears, he was not crying.

"Dad tried to stop Sam from going to college? Why the hell would he do that?"

"If Sammy's in college, he's not with us and we can't protect him,"

"So Dad sent him away for good?"

"Yeah, it sucked. But then one day the Demon reappeared and Dad went off after it and I went to get Sam because, well, because I hate being on my own. Then the Demon shows up in Sam's apartment and burns Jess, that's Sammy's-"

"I know who Jess is, my Sam's going out with her. So she's dead?"

"Yup, burned on the ceiling like Mom. It really sucks because that kinda got me what I wanted, because Sam came with me after that and we were together again like old times but he only came because the love of his life died and I didn't want that for him at all. Why am I telling you this?"

"Maybe you just need to let it out,"

"Jesus, you are _such_ a girl,"

"And you're such a macho hard-ass. You shouldn't keep things like that bottled up,"

"Things like that? That's just the background story!"

"Now I know my brain has invented you, no one's life is _that_ hard,"

"God I wish you were right,"

"So what the hell happened to make it worse?" Dean laughed.

"You won't believe it,"

"That's beside the point, you should get it out of your system,"

"Am I on something?"

"Good question,"

"You're like Sam but with my face. You're kind of freakin' me out,"

"Probably part of having a mother,"

"Maybe,"

"You haven't finished your story, Dean,"

"I swear, you sure your name isn't Sam?"

"Dean, carry on, I want to hear the end so maybe I can go write a book about it and earn lots of money," Dean looked at his other self, he had a small smile on his face, the one he used when he was lightly teasing Sam.

"Well, fine. If it'll make your life better, Mr I-have-the-perfect-wife-and-family. We found Dad, he had a gun that could kill anything and we were going to use it on the Demon but we fucked up. We ended up all in hospital, with me in a coma. I was going to die, there was no hope for me waking up and Dad... Dad... he, oh God," Dean stopped, he could feel the lump in his throat that no amount of anger could stop.

"Dad what? He give up his life for yours?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"He always told me he'd do anything for me and Sammy. That he'd give up everything for us. I guess he was good on his word, huh?" Dean nodded. "So how'd he do it?"

"Made a deal with the Demon,"

"The demon that killed Mom and Jess?" Dean nodded. "Dude, that sucks," Dean nodded again.

"That's not all, he left me, the f- he left me with a secret. A big fucking secret that I can't tell Sam,"

"Why not? Sounds like your Sam would be able to handle it,"

"Because it's about him. He's got these powers. It's why the Demon's after him. He's got these powers and the Demon's after him and it could all go so wrong! We keep fighting and going after everything evil we can find and he could die any moment. One wrong move and he's gone too and I'll have to bury him and then, and then..." the pain of thinking about what Dean never let himself think about overwhelmed him. He hung his head and cried like he hadn't for a good long while. It was only a dream, he was allowed to cry in dreams. The other Dean rubbed his back soothingly and Dean didn't have the energy to shrug him off.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine,"

"How can you possibly say that?" Dean's anger was back with a vengeance, "What the hell makes you think this could ever turn out to be fine?"

"Well, if I ever write your book, I'll make sure I give you a happy ending,"

"If I really am just a figment of your imagination, you are one twisted bastard. I will destroy your brain from the inside for doing this to me,"

"Sorry my subconscious created you, man. You have my sincere apologies," Dean had himself back under control (he could never let go of it for that long, even in dreams). "Though, you've made me feel a whole lot better about my situation,"

"I'm so happy for you," said Dean in a tone expressing that he clearly wasn't. "How's Dad where you are?"

"Oh you know, still got that garage, Mom keeps telling him he should take it easier now he's got enough money to hire another mechanic, but he enjoys it too much," Dean stared at his other self for a moment before shaking his head in disbelief.

"Fucking Demon,"

"What?"

"You're me if the Demon hadn't come. You've been living the life I coulda had, you-" Dean cut himself off. He'd already bared his soul once this dream, twice was pushing it, he still had pride, even within his own head.

"I know," the other Dean shook his head in disbelief as well. "So it's just you and Sam, huh?"

"Yup, me and Sam. With nothin' but what we can fit in the Impala,"

"You still got the Impala?" the other Dean laughed,

"Hell yeah! We were hardly going to leave her by the roadside!"

"She hasn't been, you know, put out of commission by a demon or anything?"

"Well, she was totalled, but I rebuilt her. And Dad always kept her in good condition and made sure I did when he gave her to me,"

"He _gave_ you the Impala? Seriously?"

"Yeah,"

"Dude, I gotta start bugging him about that again. Seriously? He gave her to you?"

"Yeah, he needed more space for weapons and we..." Dean trailed off, he cocked his head and listened hard, "Can you hear that?" The other Dean listened.

"Yeah, sounds like a phone ringing," it was incredibly faint but it was definitely there and then, fainter still came a voice.

"Dean? Honey? Can you get that?" the other Dean's face lit up.

"That's Rachel, looks like it's my time to go," he stood up. "You going to stay here, or what?" his question was answered when, just as faintly came Sam's voice out of nowhere.

"Dean, dude, wake up," the other Dean smiled at him.

"Dean, my back's killing me, come on," said Rachel at exactly the same time as Sam spoke again.

"Seriously, dude, don't make me come over there," their voices mixed and became suddenly loud.

"Dean! Wake up!" the both of them said together. They said it loud, so loud the room the two Deans were in began shaking. Cracks appeared up the wall and went right across the ceiling, dust fell down, followed by large chunks of whatever the hell the room was made of. Before the other Dean could get any further than looking at Dean with a look that said, quite plainly, 'what the hell?' the two of them were thrown together.

Dean's eyes flew open. He wasn't in the motel, he could tell even though it was very dark, it didn't smell like one for a start. That, and he was in a double bed, with a woman. He realised he was touching the woman, his hand was on her belly, her very swollen and pregnant belly. The woman's face, which he could just make out in the dark, had fallen from happy to slightly concerned in the short space of time since Dean had opened his eyes. She opened her mouth to speak but Dean blinked and when he opened his eyes again he was back in the motel, staring across the gap between the beds at a slightly bemused Sam.

"You ok?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, fine," replied Dean automatically.

"What were you dreaming about? You were making some really weird noises," Dean smirked.

"Oh the usual; a couple of hot girls, me, some cream..."

"Dean," Sam sounded disgusted but really, he should have known better by now.

"Hey, you asked!"

"Whatever," Sam turned over, his back now facing Dean, "Just dream quieter, alright?"

"Sure, Sammy, whatever you say," the smirk fell from Dean's lips as he quietly wiped his eyes dry. He turned his pillow over so he didn't have to sleep on the wet patches his tears had created and then settled back down into his bed.

Fucking Demon.

* * *

"What's wrong, Dean?" Dean was suddenly faced with his wife, the vision of Sam grumbling at him across the room gone in the blink of an eye. The phone rang again.

"Nothing, nothing, I'll get it," he rolled over and picked up the phone. It was Will from work ringing about something completely unimportant at seven in the morning, so it wasn't really Dean's fault that his temper got the best of him when he hung the phone up in the middle of Will's sentence. The sun was still barely up for God's sake and he was planning on having a few more hours in bed.

"Really, Dean, what's up?" Rachel's hand on his shoulder rolled him back over to face her.

"No, I just had a weird dream is all,"

"Tell me! You know I love hearing about dreams,"

"Nah, it was just a weird thing. I've been worrying too much, that's all,"

"A weird dream? Even better! Come on, tell me!" Dean grinned at his wife, she knew he could never turn her down.

"I dreamed that I saw myself with a different life, I mean, I met myself, except his mom was killed by a demon when he was four," Rachel raised her eyebrows at the demon part but said nothing, "And he'd had this really tough life. He'd almost died not long ago but Dad sacrificed himself for him and he was feeling bad about that. Then Sam's life was in danger and Sam was all he had, just Sam and the Impala. He looked awful, he was at his breaking point," Rachel shuffled closer to Dean, so that her belly was pressing against him.

"I swear, you Winchesters, you have a vision of yourself after some apocalypse and that car still makes its way in there,"

"You're a Winchester too, you know. You can't explain everything away with 'it's because they're Winchesters' any more," Rachel grinned but then she turned more serious.

"Is that why, when you woke up, you-" Rachel broke off her sentence, smiling at her own silliness, "Never mind, probably just the delusions of a pregnant woman,"

"No, tell me what I did,"

"You looked at me like you didn't know who I was," Dean reached up and tucked a stray bit of hair behind her ear.

"I was just dreaming with my eyes open, I could never forget you," Rachel smiled but didn't look entirely convinced, she snuggled close as her current physique would allow. Dean pulled her to him, one hand on the back of her head, while the other rubbed soothing circles on her stomach.

Today, he decided, he was going to call Sam and see if he couldn't get him to come down for a visit, for Christmas or something. Then he was going to phone his parents and tell them exactly how much he loved them and how grateful he was to have them. First he was going to get in a few more hours sleep in bed with his beautiful wife and their beautiful son or daughter.

He never thanked God so much in his life.

FIN

Thank you for reading.


End file.
